Brantley Gilbert Refuses to Pay $12K for His Own 1968 Mercury Cougar

One wouldn't think that Brantley Gilbert would be upset over a guy who wants him to pay $12,000 for a vintage 1968 Mercury Cougar, but Gilbert has good reason to be. It seems that Gilbert actually sold the same car to its current owner more than six years ago for only $4,000.

Before his success with singles such as 'Country Must Be Country Wide' and 'You Don't Know Her Like I Do,' Gilbert was just another struggling singer-songwriter who needed some quick cash, which is why he made the decision to sell the car.

"We went flat broke and needed some equipment. We got rained on and we didn’t have insurance on anything," Gilbert said, according to ABC News Radio.

He sold the car to for four grand, and the owner told him he could re-purchase the car when he got the $4,000 again. Now Gilbert's second album, 'Halfway to Heaven,' has gone gold, selling over 500,000 copies, as have both of his big singles. It seems that the owner is aware of Gilbert's current success and wants to take advantage of it -- he's asking three times as much as he originally paid to sell Gilbert his car back.

Though the singer could definitely fork over the money to purchase the Cougar back at the increased price, it's the principle of the matter that has Gilbert refusing. “I am not going to pay him that much! He’s going to have to come down," the singer says.

This isn't the first time that Gilbert has been taken for a ride because of his fame. Earlier this year, a man posing as the singer gained $12,000 in free stuff just by using his name. The criminal has since plead guilty and is hoping to avoid jail time.

As for the Mercury Cougar, it's not certain if the sweet vintage ride will become Gilbert's property again anytime soon, but that's okay. The singer will spend a good portion of the next month aboard a much bigger ride -- a tour bus -- playing upcoming tour dates with Uncle Kracker and Greg Bates.